Russia denies contacting Taliban against Daesh

KABUL (Pajhwok): Russia on Monday denied it had contacted the Taliban to jointly fight the Islamic State or Daesh group in Afghanistan and said it supported the Afghan government.

At a press conference here, Russian Ambassador in Kabul Alexander Mantytskiy rejected recent media reports that Russia had contacted the Afghan Taliban to fight against Daesh. “We haven’t contacted them and will never want to do so.”

“I had already said that we want to a political solution to the Afghan issue and want the Afghan government to reach an agreement with anti-government elements to stop the bloodshed,” the envoy said.

For reaching this goal, he said it was necessary to think about the UN Security Council resolution.

He strongly criticised one of the private TV channels in Kabul that accused Russia of cooperation with the Taliban, after last week’s suicide car bombing on the VIP protection unit.

Some other countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, the US, Germany and Saudi Arabia were in contact with Taliban, but Russia had never tried try to maintain relations with Taliban, the diplomat said.

His country supported a peace process in which the Taliban accepted the Afghan constitution and cut links with Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, he said, adding that they believed only intra-Afghan dialogue could resolve the current problem.